Page 1.Cover: Club and marina, 12 February 2003

Souvenir Program for150th Jubilee Ball

22 March 2003Incorporating a brief history ofRoyal Yacht Club of Victoria

Royal Warrant issued in 1886

Page 2.

The club’s beginnings…

R eceived wisdom has it that Royal Yacht Club of Victoria was founded in May 1853 as the PortPhillip Yacht Club. A combination of time, clubhouse relocations and the 1970 fire havemanaged to obscure this early period which consequently awaits the efforts of a patientresearcher willing to trawl the rich treasures of the State Library. It will no doubt be a fascinating

story, linked closely to the rise of the city of Melbourne which was in the 1850s being transformed by goldto a position of new-found wealth and status. As Melbourne became a metropolis, it’s not hard to imaginethe enthusiasm with which men of money tried to recreate in the colony the life of a gentleman from‘Home’.

In that ferment of change, the club’s existence seems to have been precarious, since three years lateran advertisement was placed in The Argus for ‘The Victorian Yacht Club’, inviting interest from potentialmembers and listing the names of those who had already joined – including George Verdon, his partnerProbert, and George Mansfield. The Argus of 12 February 1856 reported that on 11 February a generalmeeting of the club was held at Tattersalls Hotel and a program drawn up for the first regatta to be held onEaster Monday in 1856.

George (later Sir George) Verdon, Melbourne merchant: a founder of the Victoria Yacht Club. Originallya ship chandler and sail maker, Verdon was elected to represent Williamstown in the Legislative

Assembly between 1859 and 1868 and was twice Treasurer of Victoria, in 1861 and 1868.

Page 3.

Shortly thereafter Victoria Yacht Club, as it had become known, could boast a membership of 139 –seven Melbourne yacht owners and 132 ‘other interested persons’. The Commodore was William FosterStawell.

Most of the other members, whose names and suburbs are all listed in the 1856 Laws, come fromMelbourne, Williamstown and St Kilda. It was the first such body, of which there are positive records,formed on the Australian mainland.

It was determined that the club button bear the initials VYC and Foul Anchor, and that the clubuniform be a plain blue dress-coat, a white or buff waistcoat, each with the club buttons, and trousersblue or white. For Full Dress, flag officers were decked out in ‘two inch gold lace down the outside seamsof the trousers’.

The club had at least six meeting places in various parts of Melbourne and suburbs. ‘Club houses’were designated as Tattersall’s Hotel (Melbourne), the Bathing Ship (St Kilda), the Chusan Hotel(Sandridge), the Albion Hotel (Williamstown), Mack’s Hotel (Geelong), and the Royal Hotel (Brighton).

Starting procedures for yacht races, or ‘sailing matches’ as they were called in those days, were ratherdifferent from those we are familiar with. The first gun from the Commodore was the signal to takestations, and all yachts had to be at station within a quarter hour of that signal. The second gun was toprepare, and the third was the signal to hoist sails and then start. All yachts sailing in a match had to carrya ‘distinguishing color’ at the topmast head.

Club races were held most often on Corio Bay, where many of the club’s fleet were moored from1856-64, and at St Kilda. References to the Geelong Regatta go back to December 1849. There was also alocal club at Geelong at this time, but as most yachtsmen were members of both clubs, the local club wasabsorbed in VYC in 1860. At a regatta on Corio Bay held in 1861 a £100 silver cup was presented as aperpetual trophy for a race over 40 miles – a valuable prize. It was won by Mystery in the first year, Secretthe following year. The Southern Cross, built in 1857 by Lieut.-Col. Heath, a prominent member of theclub for the next 40 years, secured it permanently by three successive wins in 1863, 1864, and 1865.Colonel Heath was still a hale and hearty member of the club in 1911.

Perhaps an even bigger and more satisfying ‘win’, at least from the point of view of interstate rivalry,was the fact that in 1863, by having already been founded, the VYC prevented the newly formed RoyalSydney Yacht Squadron from calling itself the Royal Australian Yacht Squadron, as it had originally intended!

…and reinvigorationFrom 1865 to 1872 only meagre details are to be had of the club’s doings, and it would seem that duringthe period it had a moribund existence. In 1872 a new era was entered upon. Looking back on it someyears later, John Turnbull described the reactivation of the club in this way:

‘Leaving off the digger’s life and settling down amongst shipping business in Melbourne an old lovefor the briny led me to sailing some of the ships’ boats, and gradually gathering young friends of liketastes, we extended our trips along the shores of Port Phillip Bay... [We re-launched] the Victoria YachtClub at a meeting held at the Port Phillip Club Hotel on the 24th of May, 1872. A number of influentialgentlemen joined early to countenance the institution of one of the worthiest and most manly of Britishsports, but an active interest in sailing was of slower growth, perhaps attributable to distance betweenMelbourne homes and safe moorings for the yachts.’

A photograph of Captain Coffey, the new Commodore, hangs in the clubhouse.

While similar to the 1856 Laws, the later ones were more explicit, particularly as regards Sailing Rulesand ‘Evolutions’, which were complex manoeuvres carried out in fleet formations and controlled by flagsignals. This was of course before the days of auxiliary engines, when the safety of a yacht depended onits crew’s sail handling.

Page 4.

The 1872 Laws of the Victoria Yacht Club

Land at WilliamstownIn keeping with the new spirit of enthusiasm, the club at this time applied for permission to use somebeach frontage at Williamstown. On 9 May 1873, on plain paper, the Honorary Secretary of the VictoriaYacht Club, James Thorne, wrote to the Minister of Lands and Survey asking for the use of beachfrontland recently vacated by the Dredging Department.

The site referred to on an accompanying plan is the present site of Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club. Withremarkable speed – did Mr Horne have special access to the Minister? – already by 15 May advice wasbeing prepared for the Minister, and the club was granted permissive occupancy of the land by June 1873.However, a memo within the Office of Lands and Survey of March 1876 notes that ‘although the Yachtsare moored and anchored in the Bay opposite this site, the land which comprises the site has never beenoccupied or fenced in’.

According to Captain Turnbull, vice captain of the club, at the previously agreed site ‘the water was soshallow that the yachts could not approach nearer than three or four hundred yards off, rendering theland practically useless to the club’. Instead, the club had erected a two-storey boat-house and sail loft ona portion of reclaimed land immediately at the rear of the Water Police quarters. In the end, this was theland which the club gained permission to occupy – in lieu of the land already granted. The boat-housesurvived nearly a century – it was demolished by the club in 1967.

Page 5.

Letter from VYC requestingland at Williamstown

Page 6.

Two early plans showing land occupied by the Victoria Yacht Club. The earlier plan clearly shows that theCustoms House was almost on the waterfront. The club occupied land previously used by the water police. Note

that much of the land we now occupy was originally a road reserve intended for Thompson St.

Page 7.

The original boathouse, photographed in 1911

The land at that time was used mainly for the storage of masts, spars, sails and rigging. However, inOctober 1874 the minutes of the monthly meeting recorded that ‘Major Stokes urged on the meeting thedesirability of obtaining a club house as soon as possible, but while the general sense of the meetingappeared to be in favour of the proposition, it was felt that the state of the funds prevented its assumingany definite shape at present’. The land at Williamstown continued to be used for strictly sailing purposes.From 1872-80, the club met mainly at the Port Phillip Club Hotel in Flinders St.

With Williamstown as its headquarters on account of the sheltered anchorage, the average class ofyacht on the club register were straight-stemmed, deep-keel cutters of from 6 to 40 tons. Among the bigcutters whose owners chiefly relegated their handling and upkeep to professional skippers and crews (ata wage of around £6 a month) were Janet (built at Emerald Hill), Taniwha, Wanderer, Iduna, Secret, Magnolia,Crusader; plus the schooners May Queen (30 tons) and Red Gauntlet (90 tons). The May Queen was launchedin 1879, designed by AH Murray and built in R White’s boot factory in Fitzroy. She was the most famousyacht in Port Phillip from 1879 until she was sold early in the 20th century. For her launching she wascarried through the city streets late at night on a huge trolley, drawn by 80 draught horses, and lifted intothe water by a crane located near the present Queen St Bridge.

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A pleasant day on Port Phillip around the turn of the century:May Queen, Uira, and Crusader, each towing a dinghy.

Most of the famous yachts seen in Port Phillip have been on the Royals register, including the 400 tonschooner Undine, owned by the Millar brothers, the beautiful 350 ton Cushie Doo, and Lord Brassey’sSunbeam.

In the early days most of the yachts were copper sheathed below the waterline, and painted blackwith gold embellishments. Large sums were spent on equipment and furnishings. Professional decoratorsfurnished the cabin of the Minnehaha, owned by JH Alley, a 12 ton cutter; it was panelled with mahoganyoutlined in cream and gold, the stanchions were French polished mahogany, and the settees upholsteredin moquette. Red carpeting completed the furnishings. However, it was the May Queen that was regardedas the most splendid yacht of all.

In the 1880s most of the VYC lived at or near St Kilda. The practice was for their paid crew to board theyachts at Williamstown, then sail over to pick up the owners and their friends at St Kilda pier. After therace the reverse process would occur. In 1886 it was suggested that a ship’s hulk should be bought andpermanently moored at the end of the St Kilda pier; later, plans were drawn up for a clubhouse to beerected on piles between the pier and Kenny’s Baths.

On 12 November 1885 the Victoria Yacht Club was advised that His Excellency the Governor hadreceived a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies advising that Her Majesty the Queen hadbeen graciously pleased to grant permission for the club to assume the title of ‘The Royal Yacht Club ofVictoria’. The first celebration was a cruise to Snapper Point (Mornington) on 28 November; however, useof the new title was deferred until receipt of letters patent from Queen Victoria. The Royal Warrant finallyarrived in October 1886.

Page 9.

By then the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria had begun to establish a reputation for good attendances atballs and picnics rather than yacht races. The September ball in 1886, which 450 attended, was a brilliantoccasion in the Melbourne Town Hall, with Herr Plock’s eight piece orchestra providing excellent dancemusic. To encourage more racing, Mr Alley, the Police Magistrate, offered a trophy valued at 10 pounds 10shillings for a contest in seamanship to be decided by some manoeuvres around buoys. But the proposalattracted the interest only of the Pert and Erin, and the contest was changed to a race around buoys withhandicaps on sail area/tonnage. The truth was that RYCV had become more of a cruising club than aracing club.

In 1888 another yacht club was formed in Williamstown to cater for smaller boats based in Williamstown– Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club, which was granted the land originally offered to Royals in 1873.

ClubhousesFrom the 1890s to the early 1920s a major issue for the club was the basis of its occupation of the land atWilliamstown. An accident of timing meant that the permission it had gained from the Department ofLands and Survey had not been consummated in a formal grant before the inauguration of the newMelbourne Harbor Trust in 1877. No-one appeared to much care about this until the turn of the century,when big plans were afoot for port improvements. A railway line was planned right along the NelsonPlace water frontage, and in the short term land was required for residences for senior port personnel.Matters came to a head in somewhat acrimonious circumstances in 1920 when a notice was served to theclub on behalf of the Melbourne Harbor Trust Commissioners ‘to quit and deliver up possession of theland at the rear of the Police Reserve’ – in other words, the entire site used by the club. It was 1922 beforethe issue was resolved and the club secured a reliable lease.

A Harbor Trust sketch from 1916, showing proposed land reclamation and railway line. The originaltwo-storey boatshed is marked on the sketch, as are Blunt’s boathouse and slipway right next door.

Page 10.

The headquarters of the club were for a longtime in the Old Temple Court, Collins St. It wasnot until 1905 that the club moved into a homeof its own, when it obtained a lease on a grandItalianate building, Wickliffe House, on theUpper Esplanade, St Kilda, until 1912. Thissplendid building offered a reading room, billiardroom, library, ‘culinary offices’, and sevenbedrooms for the use of members – allmaintained by six servants. The dining roomaccommodated 20. Visitors noted how ‘thatgood ship Sayonara seems to permeate thewhole atmosphere of the club house’, with herracing flags hung on either side of the fireplaceand photos and half-models in every room.

A beautiful new building was planned nextto the St Kilda Yacht Club on the LowerEsplanade, but these plans came to nought. From1912 to 1922 the clubrooms were back in the city,at 375 Collins St.

Racing – the famous cups

RYCV’s first clubhouse,on the Upper Esplanade, St Kilda

The annual ‘Smoke Nights’ were theoccasion on which prizes were awarded forsailing achievements through the season. Inthe early years of the twentieth century,there were as many trophies awarded forcruising races as for ‘round the buoys’ races.Thanks to flag officer Mr E Newlands ofAtlas Press, programs for the events werebeautifully designed and printed.

The famous Sayonara Cup began whenMr Alfred Gollin, a well-to-do Melbournebusinessman and Commodore of the club,issued a challenge to the Royal Sydney YachtSquadron to race any local yacht over threeheats in open waters. In 1904 a ‘ChallengeRace’ was sailed between Gollin’s Sayonaraand Mr Binnie’s Bona, with Sayonarawinning two races to one.

The so-called ‘Sayonara’ Cup, originallythe ‘Inter State Yacht Race Cup’.

Page 11.

This and following page: Program for Smoke Night in 1902.Note the variety of entertainment offered by club members on the evening.

Page 12.

Page 13.

The famous yacht Sayonara

Another Sayonara Cup contender and winner was Mr Ernest Digby, of the Melbourne Harbor Trust,who was slipmaster of Williamstown Slipway and Dockyard. Digby designed, built and sailed famousyachts such as Independence, Defiance and Frances.

The club was also closely associated with the instigation of the Northcote and Forster Cups, originallyfor competition in 6 metre and 21 foot restricted classes respectively. The Forster Cup was revived afterWorld War 2 at the end of the 1948-49 season, when a race was organised for veteran Forster Cup skippers.

A start in the 1948-49 Forster Cup; Royals’ Edalgo (R35) shows Tassie Too (T2) her stern.

Page 14.

By 1932 yachting in Victoria was very strong, with the four principal Australian championships heldby Victorian representatives – the Sayonara Cup, the Northcote Cup, the 14-foot Championship, and theStonehaven Cup. The Forster Cup eluded us until the Adelaide competition of 1933, after a Victoriansyndicate bought a successful Peel yacht from NSW and renamed it Milsonia after her former owner, thefamous yachtsman J. Milson from Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.During the 1930s Royals was renownedas the home of the biggest, proudest yachts on the Bay.

Recognition of the club’s seniority was its hosting in 1934 of Victoria’s Centenary Regatta.

First clubhouse at WilliamstownIt being felt that city rooms tended to make the club more of a social than a sailing club, it was decided tomake Williamstown the sole clubhouse. For this it needed more land. In its submission to the HarborTrust the club pointed out that ‘it always has been, and still is, considered the senior club’; and furthermorethat even though it was not numerically as strong as other clubs such as Royal St Kilda and Royal Brightonit had the largest sailing fleet and the largest number of actual sailing members.

The Trust agreed to erect a new slipway and grant the club an additional area of land with a frontageof 100 feet to Nelson Place (sea frontage of 241 feet), with a 21 year lease from 1 July 1935. The annualrental was set at £20 for the leasehold and £56 for use of the slipway, plus £1 for the slipway and jetty siteand 5 shillings for the electricity line across Trust land. Given that the previous lease and licences hadamounted to £9:5:0 per annum, this was a huge commitment, especially when added to the capital workson clubhouse and grounds that the club had promised – predicted to be £1300.

Finally in 1935 the club had its own building – a superb achievement.

The first clubhouse at Williamstown, photographed in about 1948. The originalboatshed is on the right. In the foreground are the dinghy jetty and slipway.

Page 15.

Boats by this time included Maysie, Acrospire III and IV, Rawhiti, Utiekah III, Thistle, Niree, Revonah,Hurrica V, Adele (130 tons) and Boomerang. (In 1951 it was suggested by a member with a keen eye forheritage that the ageing Maysie be preserved in the club’s grounds as a reminder of the earlier days of theclub and an example of a ‘now extinct type of yacht’; unfortunately, the committee decided the idea wasimpractical.)

The years of the Second World War were difficult; according to one source, the club was only narrowly‘saved from extinction by various interfering authorities’. One highlight was that the club’s motorboatswere co-opted to assist in the defence of the Port of Melbourne.

In 1950 the Trust was again approached regarding increasing the area of land held by the club, andasking if a new 21 year lease could be granted so that a new building program could be undertaken.According to the club, the present premises had become inadequate for the increasing membership.

RYCV in 1944. Hemmed in by the Customs House land on the east and byHarbor Trust land to the south and west, the club needed room to grow.

There was lengthy discussion on the desirability of ‘social’ members, given that ‘the Canteen was onegood reason why gentlemen were eager to join the club’ and that perhaps non-sailing members shouldincur additional fees.

In those days there were certainly no female members. In 1951 a circular was sent to membersreminding them of the by-law concerning Lady Visitors: ‘1. No Lady shall be permitted on the club premises,except at the invitation of a member. 2. Except on official Ladies Days, or at dances or social committeemeetings, or similar functions, no Ladies shall be permitted on the club premises except whilstaccompanying a member on yachting business, in which case they may not be on the club premiseslonger than is reasonably necessary. 3. Ladies waiting for members must do so on the veranda or in theLadies Room…’ The restrictions ran to six paragraphs.

Page 16.

Women may not have been allowed to be members but they look welcome enough aboard Edalgo in 1948

100th anniversaryAt the club’s centenary in 1953 the main classes sailed were 6 and 8 metres, Dragons, Albatrosses,Tumlarens, 21-footers, Stars, and 12 square metres – along with a ‘splendid fleet’ of auxiliary poweredcruisers which made the crossing across Bass Strait to Tasmania year after year. To celebrate the centenary,RYCV won the Sayonara Cup for 8 metre yachts back from Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, in the challengerFrances. The Centenary Regatta featured A class competitions (for 21 footers, 12 square metres, and 14 ftdinghies) and B and C class races (for Tumlarens, Jubes and Elwood Canoes); plus there were Dragons,Stars, Sandridge Sharpies and Cadet Dinghies.

But life at Royals in the centenary year was apparently not easy. In 1952 a subscription had been takenup to eliminate an overdraft and debt, and in May 1953 the minutes record that an excess of expenditureover revenue is foreseen for the 53/54 season. Solutions suggested were to raise subs, decrease the valueof trophies, sell the club’s Cadets and issue debentures. There was also a proposal to admit non-sailingmembers. Centenary celebrations were held in the clubhouse – an At Home on 22 May 1953 at 6pm,dress dinner jackets, high tea and supper combined.

As a senior club, it is no surprise that the two biggest sailing events in Australia’s history, the 1956Olympics and the 1983 America’s Cup, both featured RYCV. To Royals went the honor of hosting the 5.5metre yachts in the Olympics. At the club a new landing stage was built along the sea wall, and new racksto dry sails. Extensive improvements were made to the clubhouse including the laying of lino at theentrance and having the club insignia represented on the glass sidelights at the entrance.

Page 17.

The Centenary Smoke Night program

Page 18.

In 1957 the establishment of a new Cadet Section, using the new Yachting World International Cadetdinghies, was approved.

In 1958 there were 79 yachts on the register – ‘probably a record’, according to minutes of the time.However, among all those sailors it wasn’t easy to find racing officials – in desperation there was even aserious suggestion that our races be started by Royal St Kilda Yacht Club. The suggestion was vetoed bythe Commodore who warned that our reputation was already low with the Victorian Yachting Counciland that we should lose all prestige if we turned to St Kilda to run races for which we had acceptedresponsibility. One solution was that each racing crew in turn allocate one of their members to be on thestarting team.

In 1967 the club began construction of a marina and the hundred-year-old two-storey boathouse wasdemolished to make room for an extended hardstand.

Intentional demolition was one thing. The loss by fire, at 11.57am on Saturday 5 September 1970, ofthe clubhouse itself, was quite another. The fire began in the kitchen and raced through the old woodenbuilding. Although the damage was assessed on the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board Fire Report as‘slight’, the club decided to redevelop the clubhouse into a more modern amenity. A little over a year latera new brick building had been constructed for the benefit of the 350 members. However, it was difficultto recreate the unique atmosphere of the old building, with its pictures of the club’s yachts over thecentury, half models and flags, and honor boards. The fire destroyed virtually all these relics, and membersappealed to Melbourne families who over the years had had associations with RYCV. Some historicalrecords were preserved, among them a few old minute books and other relics included in this souvenirprogram.

The fire brigade attends the fire in the old clubhouse, 5 September 1970

Page 19.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s major works were carried out in reclamation, hardstand developmentand slipping facilities. A necessary step taken by the club at this time was the initiation of a Planning Sub-Committee to look into ‘forward planning for all facets of the club on as broad a concept as possible, ienot just yard but all facilities of the club and club amenities’ – with a brief to project the club’s requirements5, 10 and 15 years hence. With its demands on club infrastructure and financing, the 1983 Australianchallenge for the America’s Cup was perhaps the most significant commitment ever entered into by theclub over its long history. Unfortunately this occurred at a time of rising interest rates – from 12% in 1981to 16% in 1982 – with a corresponding rise in members unable to pay their accounts. The development ofthe western hardstand and installation of the travelift cost over $310,000. The strain on the club’s leadershipat the time must have been tremendous.

Although the Williamstown-sponsored Challenge 12 was not successful in defeating Australia II forthe right to challenge, some members of the Victorian team were co-opted into the victorious Bondsyndicate which wrested the America’s Cup from New York.

In 1984, after enquiries from the Equal Opportunity Board, the club decided to open its membershipto women. One member of the General Committee, although not entirely happy with the decision, felt‘it was something that would happen and should be accepted gracefully and prior to any outside influence’.

Although an informal, typed and photocopied newsletter had been in existence since about the timeof the Olympics, it was not till 1983 that it was resolved that the newsletter would bear the name ‘Royals’.In 1992 there arrived a new-look, more regular Royals, bound and extensively illustrated.

A Royals race in the mid 1970s. Note the nearly-completed Westgate Bridge in the background.

The early 1980s were a time of renewed government interest in crown lands, and many yacht clubsfound themselves in potentially serious financial difficulties as a result of the government’s desire toexact market rentals from the properties. For Royals this necessitated much negotiation with the Port ofMelbourne Authority, with discussions proceeding regarding the possibility of acquiring some of thePMA land to east of club. Unfortunately in 1992 the Customs House and its land, on which the juniorsection of the club had operated for many years, were sold.

Although a number of Royals crews had competed in the Sydney-Hobart race, including Messrs AGWarner and R May in 1954 and Frank and John Livingston in 1957, it wasn’t till 1996 that a Royals boatwon: Terra Firma, sailed by clubmen Dean Wilson, Scott Carlisle and, as principal helmsman, Ian ‘Barney’Walker.

The club’s long association with metre boats continued in 1997 with the arrival of two classic 12 metreyachts and the newest member of the class, 2.4 metre yachts.

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At the beginning of the 21st century we have recently completed further hardstand improvements tothe east, and are negotiating with Parks Victoria for an extension to the marina. Discussions are underway as to the possibility of replacing the piled marina with floating pontoons. The future of the currentjunior sailing area on crown land to the east is uncertain pending the re-development of the seafrontland between us and Tenix. Membership categories are constantly under review in order to achieve theright mix of members at the right cost. The new veranda has been a great boon to after-sail activities – aperfect spot in which to relax while observing the shipping channel and the city. The DevelopmentCommittee is undertaking a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis andconsultation with members which will lead to a strategic plan which will help guide the club into thefuture.

On the boat register is a great variety of boats in A, B and C Divisions. In addition there are significantnumbers in classes such as Diamonds, 2.4 metres, S80s, Adams 10s, Noelexes, Elliotts and 49ers, and astrong junior section comprising International Cadets and Optimists.

Into the futureAs we look forward, it is appropriate that so many of the issues that confront us are ones earlier memberswould recognise – title and access to land, suitable categories and pricing of membership, plans for thefuture. The hours we spend on planning for the future of RYCV in the 21st century should remind us of thegreat debt we owe to the hardworking members and committees of the 19th and 20th centuries whoenabled us to experience the wonderful facilities, atmosphere and traditions we enjoy today.

Clubhouse from the marina, showing new veranda and barbecue – February 2003